anyone think we will have the inquisitor be the Next PC as well

LOL I've actually been posting a "little" side project on this subject on a different thread.  Dual PC with a Inquisitor and a Tevinter.  

Regardless, the characters that need to return are heavily dependent on what they actually plan to having the Inquisitor doing as a PC, and what story they are playing out.  For example, since my fan concept was heavily based around the Inquisitor going undercover in Tevinter, returning characters were widdled down to the bare essentials to follow that theme; with an interactive letter system made for the Inquisitor PC to keep in contact with their LI's while their away.  The characters from previous content I ended up using were: Dorian and Calpernia, both serve as Advisors; Harding since she would be fun to have again as a full party member, or even Romance option; Sten from DA:O since he's the Arishok now; and Marris, Tessa, Maevaris, Titus, and Radonis from the DA comics.  But again, thats for my personal concept.  

When deciding who should come back with an Inquisitor PC, base your decisions on ultimately what they would do in (and for) a story ... rather than what relationship they have with the Inquisitor themselves.  Having an LI or character back is great and all, but if they accomplish nothing but merely being present they are a waste of money and resources that could be used for other characters.  Function, over form, as it were.

True, but that being said the last two DA installments have denied us options of Back Story and threw us right into current events.  No guarantee we'd get Origins even if we got a new PC.  That being said I'm most definitely in the Dual PC camp since both combined would be something special.  New and Old combining and all that!

Is bring back the Inquisitor as PC the same as bring back the Warden?

*drinks anyway*

This has been discussed ad infinitum on BSN Prime. There is no consensus. I do NOT want the Inquisitor back in the next DA game, since I want to get away as far as possible from Southern Thedas and its problems, and particularly away from its religious themes. DAI handled this somewhat satisfactorily, but I do not want a repeat.

OK, you were referring to headcannon Backstories rather than literal backstories that the game provides.  Fair enough.   Though, why then should that matter in terms of the Inquisitor returning as a playable PC then?  The Inquisitor's headcannon backstory that you made for your Inquisitor would still be just as valid, the only difference would be that you have since added a literal backstory (comprised of the decisions that you made) leading them into DA4.  Essentially the Backstory you created in your mind is what got your Inquisitor where they needed to be to deal with the events of DA:I, you're decisions in DA:I are then what is adding on to that backstory to get your Inquisitor where they need to deal with the events of DA4.  The only real loss then would be that you wouldn't be crafting another headcannon backstory for a brand new PC, and in a Dual PC system even that factor probably wouldn't be lost.

Not to mention with the way Solas' personality is and if he actually is going to be an Antagonist in DA4 (which Bioware has eluded to), it would almost be a requirement to have Origin stories for the new PC to get them involved with him, no matter the Game structure.  He's not exactly the most obvious or open villain, unlike Cory.  He's prone to coming at you from the side if he comes at you at all, he's damned hard to find (especially with the Eluvians at his disposal), and he's infinitely more subtle and secretive with his tactics and goals.  The only other option to getting a New solo PC involved in a character like Solas is to (for a second game in a row) give them a "Special Snowflake" power that only they have, that makes them entirely indispensable to defeating Solas.  I bought that for one game, but it would be downright shoddy and laughably bad writing to attempt a repeat performance.  

Sorry I really suck with this forum system still so I don't know how to do all the fancyness that you did with your post formatting, but I'll try to comment in order of response.  

First, while yes the characters you loved but didn't finish the game with may be amazing, those sort of toons are extremely tough to write around.  It may simply be a matter of omission (I never got to that content with this character so it never happened sort of thing), but those characters are as a result locked in a strange sub-universe of their own in which either events are stalled perpetually ... or they outright lost and the world was forever altered by Corypheus.  In either case the events of DA4 would never occur, because the progression of very world itself is halted just as the PC is.  Those type of characters who never made it to the end of their first journey wouldn't narratively be in a state to ever move on to the next, not much anyone could do to plan around it.

Second, LOL!  Like Hawke?!    I meant Origins as in like how they did Origins in DA:O, rather than DA2.  Those merely started the player at the events in which their character was put into a position to get involved in the overarching story, rather than defining their entire backstory.  I felt that style of formatting was enough to give a viable reason for the PC's inclusion in these massive world altering events, but left enough open for interpretation about who they were before all of it began for the player to play around.  A nice mix, unlike what they did with Hawke.  As for the Inquisitor coming back as a playable PC ... oddly enough I agree.  As much of a longshot of the next game being Dual PC, the Inquisitor shouldn't return as playable unless that actually is the format.  I don't actually agree with a second solo game for them. /sagenod.

Finally, the indispensable portion isn't a problem with the PC, but more a problem with Solas as a character.  He's not as obvious as Cory, he's not as prone to random acts of aggression, he might not even need to openly attack anyone at this point.  The dude is intelligent, subtle, and above all stealthy.  He's also pretty damned quiet personality wize.  I guess essentially what I'm saying is that unless they plan on altering who he is, he's the kind of character that's stupidly hard to get a new solo PC involved in naturally.  Hell if we really are going to Tevinter, most people there won't even believe he actually exists.  In a Dual PC setup I can think of any number of ways to get the new PC involved in the issues of Solas by using the Inquisitor PC (as well as simultaneously getting the Inquisitor involved in the issues of Tevinter more naturally by using the New PC), but I can't think of too many things that could get a solo new PC involved in the Solas issue without them having something that makes them irreplaceable to the story.  Think of it this way.  If the Inquisitor doesn't have a hand in the efforts of the new PC, then the new PC needs a huge reason to even get involved in Solas, despite how unlikely it is for Solas to actually do something to arbitrarily antagonize and create a new PC.  If a non PC Inquisitor is involved, then the game needs a viable reason why the Inquisitor isn't just doing everything the new PC is doing, themselves.  If Solas isn't in the game at all ... then there is no point to the discussion lol!

I doubt it. New protagonist for each game seems to be the thing.

Are we even sure there will be another DA game, though? I think one of the Bioware people said a new DA game wasn't planned, not long ago.

I'm quite certain they maimed the Inquisitor precisely so they could have a justification as to why s/he doesn't fight anymore.

God wouldn't that be just the worst reason ever if it were.  Ignoring for the moment the mechanical prosthetics that we're originally designed for Bull (that never made the cut for Bull, but we still have yet to see whether or not they made the cut for the Qun setting itself), we've actually seen a long lost limb being grown back in the original "Dragon Age Comic"before.  Yeah it was an accident when the Mage was attempting to heal a new wound on the character in question, but it has occurred, which means it remains a possibility in the setting still.  I mean narratively I would think it a shame if they were to ret-con the impact the loss of the arm could have with the latter choice so I would prefer they go with a prosthetic of some kind, but still options remain in a world of magic.    

Well, to be fair we've never seen a non Qun citizen that was missing even as something as small as a finger lol!  Could that because Bioware has thus far been to lazy to create the character models for such people?  Entirely!  Could that be because with Magic the loss of a limb isn't really that big of an issue, just a simple issue of going to you're nearest Mage-Mart and buying one that fits you?  Probobly not, but still a funny concept to believe.  That being said, considering the setting and the tech we've actually seen being available I don't truly believe a prosthetic (even one that had magic components) is out of the realms of possibility ... even if it does turn out to be somewhat rudimentary.

He wasn't going to say on Tweeter "amputees can't fight."

I imagine this would be one of the bigger reasons why a returning PC would be a problem in DA. I would think an Inquisitor who romanced Solas or even Dorian would have loose ends to tie up romance-wise in DA4, but perhaps not the other Inquisitors. Unless they intended to have all the LIs back in DA4 - with the exception of a deceased Blackwall or IB, which would be unfair.

I've always wondered, would it be too much work for them to give you an option to choose your DAI hero or a new protag? I assume it would involve writing practically 2 different stories, or could it be done, do you think?

Well, he wouldn't, because it wouldn't be true.